Business Owners Should Sell During Boom, Not Bust

- July 10, 2000

HAMILTON A leading business intermediary firm says business owners considering the sale of their companies should get it done while the U.S. and Canadian economies are still strong.

"A slow economy is the worst time to sell a business," says Doug Robbins, CBI, president of Robbinex Inc. "Sales fall off and a business can depreciate in value very quickly. Business owners can end up hanging onto a business much longer than they want to, or can be forced to sell at a lower price."

Robbins said the signs of a coming economic downturn - possibly by the second quarter of 2001 - are there: slowing housing starts in the U.S., rising interest rates and wage pressures in both the U.S. and Canada.

"Savvy business owners need to stay alert to these trends and start planning their exit strategies now when things are still good," Robbins said. "We always tell people that the best time to sell is when you don't have to. Business owners who don't plan ahead usually fail to recoup the true value of their business. That's even more likely when a sale takes place during a slow economy."

Robbins said many business owners don't realize that the sale of a business is a complex process that can often take between nine and 15 months.

Robbinex Inc. is a mergers and acquisitions consulting firm specializing in selling medium-to-large sized private businesses. Since its inception in 1974, Robbinex Inc. has participated in the sale of more than 650 businesses. The head office is located in Hamilton, Ontario, with affiliate Canadian offices in Windsor, Victoria and Vancouver, and U.S. offices in Buffalo, New York and Detroit and Lansing, Michigan.

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